Camelot will not be reassessing its criteria for retailers if its proposal to offer additional terminals is accepted by the National Lottery Commission (NLC).

Company sales director Duncan Malyon said the criteria on which retailers were judged were in place to ensure the maximum return for good causes, and that it would not be altering them should more terminals be introduced into the network.

Last month it proposed to introduce an extra 8,000 terminals in return for a five-year extension to the licence to operate the National Lottery (C-Store, July 8).

Of these potential 8,000 new terminals, Camelot said that up to 6,000 would be allocated to the independent sector.

The NLC is currently considering Camelot’s proposal to add terminals and a decision is expected to be made by the end of the year.

There are more than 40 criteria in which all retailers are assessed, including turnover, footfall, size of store, local population and proximity to other stores with terminals. This assessment programme has come under fire from independent retailers who feel that they are being overlooked in favour of multiple operators.

According to Camelot, 32,000 retailers most of whom are independents have applied for a terminal unsuccessfully.

Malyon stressed that “the same criteria apply across all retailers, regardless of their area or sector”.

He said that it was not a ‘waiting list’ scenario and that all of the retailers who had applied were reassessed on a quarterly basis, and that when a terminal was made available it was re-allocated based on the best possible opportunity to generate incremental sales rather than location or on a ‘first-come, first-served basis’.

Malyon added that even if a retailer hadn’t heard back from Camelot regarding an application, it didn’t mean they were not being assessed in the quarterly review.